**<big>Coach’s anger at ‘grubby’ Storm</big>**
THE NRL slugged North Queensland coach Paul Green with a breach notice for spraying the referees after the Cowboys’ loss to Melbourne on the weekend, and the real reason for his anger has been revealed.
Green is facing a $10,000 fine after he slammed the officiating in his side’s 26-8 defeat as “the worst display of refereeing I have ever seen”. But his remarks may have had more to do with Storm duo Cameron Smith and Billy Slater than the men with the whistle.
Channel Seven rugby league journalist Josh Massoud reports Green took offence to some niggling acts from the pair, prompting his post-game explosion.
“What really got under his bonnet … are some of the niggly, grubby tactics from Melbourne. But not just Melbourne, some of their champion, so-called cleanskin players like Cameron Smith and Billy Slater,” Massoud said on Sky Sports’ Big Sports Breakfast.
“There was an elbow to the head of (Cowboys fullback) Lachlan Coote.
“Paul Green privately feels these guys are a protected species, that the referees don’t police them well enough.
“It was more the niggly stuff that he didn’t appreciate.”
THE NRL slugged North Queensland coach Paul Green with a breach notice for spraying the referees after the Cowboys’ loss to Melbourne on the weekend, and the real reason for his anger has been revealed.
Green is facing a $10,000 fine after he slammed the officiating in his side’s 26-8 defeat as “the worst display of refereeing I have ever seen”. But his remarks may have had more to do with Storm duo Cameron Smith and Billy Slater than the men with the whistle.
Channel Seven rugby league journalist Josh Massoud reports Green took offence to some niggling acts from the pair, prompting his post-game explosion.
“What really got under his bonnet … are some of the niggly, grubby tactics from Melbourne. But not just Melbourne, some of their champion, so-called cleanskin players like Cameron Smith and Billy Slater,” Massoud said on Sky Sports’ Big Sports Breakfast.
“There was an elbow to the head of (Cowboys fullback) Lachlan Coote.
“Paul Green privately feels these guys are a protected species, that the referees don’t police them well enough.
“It was more the niggly stuff that he didn’t appreciate.”